The rains have decimated my drawing room.My dad came up with this simple and genuine rescue plan.He stuck a landmark cover on to the window and directed the water into the tub.Why didnt I ask my dad before.??

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

We have visited Chidambaram thrice. During these three visits we were not able to visit this temple.The last time we had a key hole dharsanam because the temple was closed.This time though the temple was surging with devotees we managed to get a darshan.This temple is present on the North of the famous Chidambaram Temple.Thillai refers to the thillai trees that were present in the bye gone era.The Goddess is said to have come here,after accepting defeat in the dance duel with Lord Shiva.

Iam not religious but spiritual to be apt Iam a Pantheist,more of a nature lover.Temple visits started because of my mom who is an ardent devotee of temples.It is because of her that I have taken an interest in visiting temples.Well you will also get a peek into my life and my other interests.I may blog about cooking or something that has impacted me in a big way."Forward Ho!" .The icon I have used in my blog is Udupi Sri Krishna.Image Courtesy:http://www.udipikrishnamutt.com/

According to Wikipedia,"Lord Shiva in his manifestation of formlessness is worshipped in Chidambaram. The Lord is said to continuously dance in a state of eternal bliss "Aananda thaandava", with his consort Sakthi or energy called Sivagami. A curtain covers this space which when drawn reveals strands of golden ‘Vilva’ leaves hung to indicate the Lord’s presence. The curtain is dark on its exterior side (indicating ignorance) and bright red on the interior side (indicating wisdom and bliss).

During the daily rituals, the Chief priest, of the day, himself in a state of Godliness - Shivohambhava (Shiva - the Lord, in His Sandhi form - Shivo-, aham – me / us, bhava - state of mind), parts the curtain, indicating the withdrawal of ignorance and reveals the space, and the Lord’s presence.

The Chidambara Rahasya, is hence representative of that time when one, in total surrender, allows God to intervene and remove our ignorance, even as we get to 'see and experience' His presence and hence - bliss."

My mom is big fan of visiting temples.She never fails to buy her precious tamil dailies which reports on the various temples. This particular trip was long due.This temple is my husbands Kula Deivam. My mom always says " Kula Deivathai Kondadanum". True to this spirit we undertook this trip when Sakti Vikatan announced that the temple is conducting Kumbahishegam on the 10th Nov 2008. We could not go to the Kumbabhishegam but we attended the mandala abhishegam on the 16th Nov 2008.My mom says that one has to visit the temple within 45 days of rejuvenating it. We started from chennai at 4.00 am and booked a Qualis A/C from Venkatesh Tours and travels Anna Nagar. We took the Chennai-Dindivanam-Pondicherry-Cuddulore-Mayavaram route.The driver was too safe,in the sense that he was deprived of forty winks the previous nite,he kept taking tea breaks.We again stopped at hotel Satabhishegam to refresh on the way to the temple.We reached the temple around 12 in the noon and the gurukal just started with the pooja. The mamis were busy making maa-vilakku.It was such an appetising sight.We witnessed the pooja for one and a half hours. The diety according to the bhaktas is a wish granting goddess.She was apparently found in a pond by three friends all of them who belonged to different communities 600 years ago. They belonged to the Iyer,Iyengar and Pillai communities. Unity in diversity indeed. She is principally a village guardian known as Mariamman,now known as Kamakshi Amman.The Kumbabhishegam was a lavish affair.My mom wants to make another trip after listening to stories about her glory.We finished the worship and headed off for lunch at Kariyakudi.This is the best places to eat at Mayavaram.We had pitlay,takali kai kootu,Neer more etc. The food satiated our appetites.On our way back we visited Chidambaram Natarajar Temple and thillai Kali temple.After our chidambaram visit we stopped for dinner at Sathguru Hotel in Pondicherry. We got back home around 1am the same day.We covered a distance of 585 kms. The minimum outstation charges for 225 kms is Rs10/kms. We paid Rs 6,000 plus taxes.(including night charges,Permit charges).On the whole it was a much anticipated and long delayed trip. Thanx to my moms initiative and constant prodding and of course thanx to the indispensable Sakti Vikatan which sparked of my maiden visit to my husband's kula deivam.My dad took the picture of goddess Kamakshi from Sakti Vikatan from his Sony cybershot W120.The other picture is a collage of Karuvazhaikarai temple pictures.